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Breaking Dawn Part 2: SELF's Entertainment Director Weighs In on the End of the Twilight Saga

Finally, in the final installment of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 2, Bella gets to kick some ass. When she lets loose, in all her red-eyed, lush-lashed vampiric glory, it's hard not to yell, "you go, girl" at screen, suffused with...

Finally, in the final installment of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 2, Bella gets to kick some ass. When she lets loose, in all her red-eyed, lush-lashed vampiric glory, it's hard not to yell, "you go, girl" at screen, suffused with relief that after 4 movies and 3.5 previous books filled with her physical fragility paired with emotional intensity, she gets to be as fierce on the outside as she is on the inside.

While there are a couple slow stretches, BD2 is a triumphant end to the series that launched a thousand swoons. Anyone who loves Bella and her beloved, Edward, and their extended families will weep happily over the final chapter's sentimentality. And even the haters, or the reluctantly dragged along boyfriends, won't be able resist the Technicolor pageantry of the movie's big fight scene, which is as shocking and bloody as any I've seen on screen recently.

Throughout the years that I've enjoyed Twilight, others have maligned it, deeming Bella's choices un-feminist (she wants to change herself, become a vampire, for love; she keeps a baby that poses a threat to her health; etc.) I have to disagree. As Melissa Rosenberg, the series' screenwriter, pointed out to SELF last year, Bella grows into a woman who makes her own choices and doesn't let anyone stop her pursuit of them. She's not changing for a guy, she's choosing the life she wants and is willing to live - or I guess, die, with the consequences. When there's threat to her or those she loves, Bella, even before her transformation gave her physical strength, didn't shrink in to the background waiting to be saved, she faces it every time. And in this final installment, as she begins to realize the full breadth of her natural powers, she's thrilling to watch.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 2 is gorgeous to look at, with lots of sweeping panoramic shots of the forests and snow of the Pacific Northwest. And it is a love letter to the faithful, who have laughed appreciatively with the awesome Billy Burke and Anna Kendrick, smiled every time Taylor Lautner pulled his shirt off, grinned every time Ashley Greene pirouetted through a scene and of course, dreamed along with Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson. Oh, and by the way, the twist you've been hearing about at the end will not disappoint!